This report discusses the results of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL) for 1994. To evaluate the effects of ANL operations on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL site were analyzed and compared to applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides was measured in air, surface water, groundwater, soil, grass, and bottom sediment samples. In addition, chemical constituents in surface water, groundwater, and ANL effluent water were analyzed.

Annual report for the superconductor program at Argonne National Laboratory discussing the group's activities and research. This report describes the technical progress of research and development efforts aimed at producing superconducting components that are based on the Y-Ba-Cu, Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu, Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu, and (Tl,Pb)-(Ba,Sr)-Ca-Cu oxide systems including: synthesis and heat treatment of high-Ta superconductors, formation of monolithic and composite wires and tapes, superconductor/metal connectors, characterization of structures and superconducting and mechanical properties, fabrication and properties of thin films, and development of prototype components.

Annual report for the superconductor program at Argonne National Laboratory discussing the group's activities and research. This report describes technical progress of research and development efforts aimed at producing superconducting components in the Y-Ba-Cu, (Bi,Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu, (Tl,Pb,Bi)-(Ba,Sr)-Ca-Cu, and Hg-Ba-Ca-Cu-O oxide systems including: synthesis and heat treatment of high-Ta superconductors, formation of monolithic and composite conductors, characterization of structures and superconducting and mechanical properties, and fabrication and testing of prototype components.

Annual report for the superconductor program at Argonne National Laboratory discussing the group's activities and research. This report describes the technical progress of research and development efforts aimed at producing superconducting components in the (Bi,Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu, (T,Pb,Bi,V)- (Ba,Sr)-Ca-Cu, and Y-Ba-Cu oxide systems including: synthesis and heat treatment of high-Te superconductors, formation of monolithic and composite conductors, characterization of structures and superconducting and mechanical properties, and fabrication and testing of prototype components.

Annual report for the superconductor program at Argonne National Laboratory discussing the group's activities and research. This report describes technical progress of research and development efforts aimed at producing superconducting components in the Y-Ba-Cu, (B1,Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu, (Tl,Pb,BI)-(Ba,Sr)-Ca-Cu, and Hg-Ba-Ca-Cu-O oxide systems including: synthesis and heat treatment of high-Ta superconductors; formation of monolithic and composite wires, tapes, and coils; characterization of structures and superconducting and mechanical properties; fabrication and properties of films; and development of prototype components.

The combination of a Krylov space method and a pre-conditioner is at the heart of most modern numerical codes for the iterative solution of linear systems. This document contains both a users manual and a description of the implementation for the Krylov space methods package KSP included as part of the Portable, Extensible Tools for Scientific computation package (PETSc). PETSc is a large suite of data-structure-neutral libraries for the solution of large-scale problems in scientific computation, in particular on massively parallel computers. The methods in KSP are conjugate gradient method, GMRES, BiCG-Stab, two versions of transpose-free QMR, and others. All of the methods are coded using a common, data-structure-neutral framework and are compatible with the sequential, parallel, and out-of-core solution of linear systems. The codes make no assumptions about the representation of the linear operator; implicitly defined operators (say, calculated using differencing) are fully supported. In addition, unlike all other iterative packages we are aware of, the vector operations are also data-structure neutral. Once certain vector primitives are provided, the same KSP software runs unchanged using any vector storage format. It is not restricted to a few common vector representations. The codes described are actual working codes that run on …

Tests were conducted on the compatibility of gallium with candidate structural materials for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, e.g., Type 316 SS, Inconel 625, and Nb-5 Mo-1 Zr alloy, as well as Armco iron, Nickel 270, and pure chromium.

The properties of periodized Daubechies wavelets on [0,1] are detailed and contrasted against their counterparts which form a basis for L{sup 2}(R). Numerical examples illustrate the analytical estimates for convergence and demonstrate by comparison with Fourier spectral methods the superiority of wavelet projection methods for approximations. The analytical solution to inner products of periodized wavelets and their derivatives, which are known as connection coefficients, is presented, and several tabulated values are included.

Motion-dependent magnetic forces are the key elements in the study of magnetically levitated vehicle (maglev) system dynamics. In the past, most maglevsystem designs were based on a quasisteady-motion theory of magnetic forces. This report presents an experimental and analytical study that will enhance our understanding of the role of unsteady-motion-dependent magnetic forces and demonstrate an experimental technique that can be used to measure those unsteady magnetic forces directly. The experimental technique provides a useful tool to measure motion-dependent magnetic forces for the prediction and control of maglev systems.

The dynamic load-balancing problem for mesh-connected parallel computers can be clearly described by introducing a function that identifies how much work is to be transmitted between neighboring processors. This function is a solution to an elliptic problem for which a wealth of knowledge exists. The non-uniqueness of the solution to the load-balancing problem is made explicit.

The IBM SP1 is IBM`s newest parallel distributed-memory computer. As part of a joint project with IBM, Argonne took delivery of an early system in order to evaluate the software environment and to begin porting programming packages and applications to this machine. This report discusses the results of those efforts once the high-performance switch was installed. An earlier report (ANL/MCS-TM-177) emphasized software usability and the initial ports to the SP1. This report contains performance results and discusses some applications and tools not covered in TM 177.

Gamma irradiation of WHC-supplied samples of grouted Tank 102-AP simulated nonradioactive waste has been carried out at three dose rates, 0.25, 0.63, and 130 krad/hr. The low dose rate corresponds to that in the actual grout vaults; with the high dose rate, doses equivalent to more than 40 years in the grout vault were achieved. An average G(H2) = 0.047 molecules/100 eV was found, independent of dose rate. The rate of H2 production decreases above 80 Mrad. For other gases, G(N2) = 0.12, G(O2) = 0.026, G(N2O) = 0.011 and G(CO) = 0.0042 at 130 krad/hr were determined. At lower dose rates, N2 and O2 could not be measured because of interference by trapped air. The value of G(H2) is higher than expected, suggesting segregation of water from nitrate and nitrite salts in the grout. The total pressure generated by the radiolysis at 130 krad/h has been independently measured, and total amounts of gases generated were calculated from this measurement. Good agreement between this measurement and the sum of all the gases that were independently determined was obtained. Therefore, the individual gas measurements account for most of the major components that are generated by the radiolysis. At 90 C, H2, …

To better understand the processes leading to the generation and release of gases from waste tanks, the authors studied the radiolytic and thermal generation of H2, N2O, N2, O2, and NH3 in nonradioactive waste simulant solutions and slurries. The radiolytic sources for H2 are e(sub aq)⁻ and its predecessors and H atoms. Radiolysis of the water generates some H2 and an additional amount comes from the hydrogen abstraction reaction H + RH(yields) H2+R(center_dot). Nitrate scavenges e(sub aq)(sup (minus) and its predecessors whereas nitrite is the major H-atom scavenger. Computer modeling shows that if [NO3⁻] is above 0.5 M, and [NO2⁻] is above 2M, the addition of other scavengers will have little effect on the yield of H2. In the presence of organic molecules O2 is efficiently destroyed. Small yields of ammonia were measured and the yields increase linearly with dose. The nitrogen in NH3 comes from organic chelators. The yields of gases in solution depend only weakly on temperature. The rate of thermal generation of gases increases upon preirradiation, reaches a maximum, and then declines. The known radiolytic degradation products of chelators, NTA, IDA, glycolate, glyoxylate, formaldehyde, formate, oxalate, and hydroxylainine were examined for their roles in the thermal generation …

This paper is an extension of a chapter in an earlier report that provides an updated review on the status of radiation damage problems in nuclear waste glasses. This report will focus on radiation effects on vitrified borosilicate nuclear waste glasses under conditions expected in the proposed Yucca mountain repository. Radiation effects on high-level waste glasses and their surrounding repository environment are important considerations for radionuclide immobilization because of the potential to alter the glass stability and thereby influence the radionuclide retentive properties of this waste form. The influence of radionuclide decay on vitrified nuclear waste may be manifested by several changes, including volume, stored energy, structure, microstructure, mechanical properties, and phase separation. Radiation may also affect the composition of aqueous fluids and atmospheric gases in relatively close proximity to the waste form. What is important to the radionuclide retentive properties of the repository is how these radiation effects collectively or individually influence the durability and radionuclide release from the glass in the event of liquid water contact.

OTTER (Organized Techniques for Theorem-proving and Effective Research) is a resolution-style theorem-proving program for first-order logic with equality. OTTER includes the inference rules binary resolution, hyperresolution, UR-resolution, and binary paramodulation. Some of its other abilities and features are conversion from first-order formulas to clauses, forward and back subsumption, factoring, weighting, answer literals, term ordering, forward and back demodulation, evaluable functions and predicates, and Knuth-Bendix completion. OTTER is coded in C, is free, and is portable to many different kinds of computer.

The radiolytic yields of hydrogen nitrogen, oxygen, nitrous oxide, and carbon monoxide from two batches of WHC-supplied samples of grouted simulated waste have been (gamma) irradiated at several dose rates (0.025, 0.63 and 130 krad/h for hydrogen and 130 krad/h for all other gases). In one batch, the liquid waste simulant that was added to the grout included the original components that were added to Tank 102-AP (labeled "virgin" waste.) The second batch included a similar liquid waste simulant that was preirradiated to 35 Mrad prior to incorporation into the grout. It is believed that the preirradiated samples more closely represent radioactive waste that was stored in the tank for several years. The lowest dose rate corresponds approximately to that expected in the grout; with the high dose rate, doses equivalent to about 85 years storage in grout vaults were achieved. Most of the results on the batch of virgin samples have been reported recently (Report ANL 93/42). Here we report the results from the batch of preirradiated grout samples and compare the results from the two batches. The radiolytic yields of hydrogen and nitrogen are lower in the preirradiated than in the virgin grout. On the other hand G(oxygen) …

In casting, fluidity is the measure of the distance a metal can flow in a channel before being stopped by solidification. During mold filling, the metal loses heat to the surrounding mold, thereby cooling and becoming more viscous until the leading portion solidifies and no further flow is possible. A coupled heat-transfer and fluid-flow modeling of a spiral, involving the use of thermophysical properties to determine material fluidity, has been conducted. Simulations of these experiments utilized the Casting Process Simulator (CaPS) software developed at Argonne National Laboratory. Two types of spiral geometries with different assumptions were considered: (1) a two-dimensional laterally stretched spiral and (2) a three-dimensional lateral spiral. The computer extent of mold filling is in good agreement with the experimental results. Time required by the metal/gas interface to attain specific positions in the spiral arm also compares favorably with the experimental results. The influence of process variables, especially pour time, is discussed. The CaPS software has been used as a computational tool to investigate the validity of the dimensionality assumptions and to evaluate the ability of CaPS to model fluidity adequately.

Borosilicate glass is to be used for permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste in a geologic repository. Mechanistic chemical models are used to predict the rate at which radionuclides will be released from the glass under repository conditions. The most successful and useful of these models link reaction path geochemical modeling programs with a glass dissolution rate law that is consistent with transition state theory. These models have been used to simulate several types of short-term laboratory tests of glass dissolution and to predict the long-term performance of the glass in a repository. Although mechanistically based, the current models are limited by a lack of unambiguous experimental support for some of their assumptions. The most severe problem of this type is the lack of an existing validated mechanism that controls long-term glass dissolution rates. Current models can be improved by performing carefully designed experiments and using the experimental results to validate the rate-controlling mechanisms implicit in the models. These models should be supported with long-term experiments to be used for model validation. The mechanistic basis of the models should be explored by using modern molecular simulations such as molecular orbital and molecular dynamics to investigate both the glass structure and …

In this dissertation the author reports on his efforts to develop a parallel genetic algorithm and apply it to the solution of set partitioning problem -- a difficult combinatorial optimization problem used by many airlines as a mathematical model for flight crew scheduling. He developed a distributed steady-state genetic algorithm in conjunction with a specialized local search heuristic for solving the set partitioning problem. The genetic algorithm is based on an island model where multiple independent subpopulations each run a steady-state genetic algorithm on their subpopulation and occasionally fit strings migrate between the subpopulations. Tests on forty real-world set partitioning problems were carried out on up to 128 nodes of an IBM SP1 parallel computer. The authors found that performance, as measured by the quality of the solution found and the iteration on which it was found, improved as additional subpopulation found and the iteration on which it was found, improved as additional subpopulations were added to the computation. With larger numbers of subpopulations the genetic algorithm was regularly able to find the optimal solution to problems having up to a few thousand integer variables. In two cases, high-quality integer feasible solutions were found for problems with 36,699 and 43,749 …

Interim report describing progress to develop glassy slag waste forms that support environmental restoration efforts.

Between 1953 and 1970, studies on the long-term effects of external x-ray and {gamma} irradiation on inbred and hybrid mouse stocks were carried out at the Biological and Medical Research Division, Argonne National Laboratory. The results of these studies, plus the mating, litter, and pre-experimental stock records, were routinely coded on IBM cards for statistical analysis and record maintenance.

In a long-term program that began in 1984, limestone and marble briquettes have been exposed to both anthropogenic acid deposition and natural weathering at four field sites in the eastern United States.

Development of an improved semi-mechanistic-based set of correlation parameters for nucleation-dominant flow-boiling heat transfer in small channels is described.

The Generic TRUEX Model was used to develop a TRUEX process flowsheet for recovering the transuranics (plutonium, americium) from a nitrate waste stream at Rocky Flats Plant. T\